Archive for February, 2008

I bought a bunch of books about food for Roman. In my attempt to educate myself on this big milestone- Roman eating real food- I discovered that he may be ready, but his Mama is not. I was reading and sobbing at the same time. Imagine Keith’s confusion when he saw me crying reading cook books! Before now it was an option to introduce solids, but at 6 months it’s a necessity. Roman will no longer be able to get his nutritional needs exclusively from me. This revelation put me into a crying frenzy! The weaning process is starting just as we are settling into a schedule. I had no idea it would be so emotionally difficult being a mom. How am I going to toughen up enough to be able to send my child off into the world? I can’t even bring myself to give him some sweet potatoes.

Something has happened over the last few weeks. Something I never saw coming. I had hoped and dreamed and obsessed, but started to lose hope. Then the Universe shifted. Roman started sleeping. The once dreaded evening hour has turned into something quite lovely. Our nighttime routine goes like this – We dim the lights, turn on the sleepy playlist, Keith gives Roman a bath and I feed him in his rocking chair. The entire process takes 45 minutes and by 7:45 he is fast asleep in his crib. Gone are the days of swaddling, shushing, screaming, rocking, walking, taking shifts, struggling to get R to fall asleep. We have our evenings back. Keith and I have alone time again. Something I remember longing for during the first few months of Roman’s life. So what do we do with our free time? Sneak into Roman’s room to watch him sleep. Sometimes we catch him having a dream. His little face twitches, he smiles and laughs out loud. His closed eyes dart back and forth. He snores. It’s the most peaceful thing we have ever seen.

Time is flying I can’t believe Roman is almost half a year old. He changes so much it is nearly impossible to document it all. My goal is to try a little bit harder. From the beginning Roman has had specific likes and dislikes. Here are a few during his 5th month of life:

LIKES
Sucking on his fingers and toes
Taking a bath
Staring at anything visually interesting – fabric, paintings, bright objects
His owl mobile
Books – 2 books perfect, 3 books too many
The Baby Bjorn
Faucets – water in general
Touching our faces
Taking walks, being out
Mirrors
His pacifier
Standing
His feet tickled
Being held upright
Being talked to
Sadly, the cell phone
Music

DISLIKES:
Getting his face washed
Getting dressed
Being burped mid nursing- he acts like the milk has dried up forever. He throws his head back, turns red in the face and screams an angry cry. It’s hard not to laugh.
Being overstimulated
Being held like a baby
Sitting still
When I sniff, sneeze or cough while feeding him – he will stop eating, look up at me with a disturbed face which makes me feel embarrassed. I apologize and he continues eating.
Being on his stomach